In 1983, Dan & Tom Chew and Bob Gottlieb
wanted to showcase Pittsburgh's steepest and toughest hills in
one ride, never getting more than 10 kilometers away from the
center of the city. We searched out hills on Unites States
Geological Survey (USGS) maps by counting the 20 foot contour
lines/intervals. The closer the lines, the steeper the hill.
Sometimes the "road" was merely steps for pedestrian
traffic only. So on Saturday December 17, 1983, the first Dirty
Dozen ride was held in 27 degrees F with snow flurries. Among the
5 starters were Oscar Rattenberg and Ron Reider, but only Dan,
Tom, and Bob finished. Dan & Tom were deemed the two
strongmen of the ride. The 5 place points system was first used
in 1988 when 13 starters showed up. The 10 place points system
was used in 2007 when 131 riders started, in 2008 for women, and
in 2011 for men. When Tom Chew moved away from Pittsburgh in
1985, Dan Chew took over as the ride organizer. Back in the early
years (the 80's) a macho attitude prevented any rider from using
gears lower than a 42x24. In recent years, the ride has gotten
easier due to lower gearing and several of the hills being paved
(asphalted) which used to be rough cobblestone or wavy blacktop
killing what little momentum the rider had. In recent years,
riders have used a 39x32 gear which makes the ride much less
taxing on the rider's upper body.

DIRTY
DOZEN OFFICIAL FINISHER STATUS

To be an official DD finisher, you must ride up
every hill using your own current power available without
stopping or crashing. You must have continuous forward motion UP
the hill! You can weave back and forth as long as you are
continuing to go UP. As soon as you start to go level or back
down the hill, you are disqualified. You can go back down to the
bottom of the hill, and try again as many times as you want. In
the early days of 20 or fewer riders, I was able to keep track of
who made all the hills, but once the DD grew bigger than this, I
was unable to police it anymore. Now there exists an honor system
where riders keep track of themselves.